Bobby Lowder's 29-year run as perhaps the most influential figure at Auburn University has come to an end.

The Alabama Senate approved a batch of new trustees Tuesday, and Lowder's name was not among them for the first time since 1982.

Lowder, who once was named college sports' most powerful booster by ESPN, has been a lightning rod for years. Supporters see in Lowder a man who has loved Auburn since he was a little boy and who has given tirelessly of his time and fortune to lead the school toward becoming one of America's superior public universities in academics and athletics, particularly in football.

Critics see in Lowder a puppet master who has used his money and power to pack the board with sycophants, who in turn supported his vision for the university and his choices to carry out that vision -- from presidents and deans to football coaches and athletic directors.

"I am overjoyed it's ended," Wayne Flynt, distinguished professor at AU and one of Alabama's leading authors and historians, said as Lowder's time on the board drew to a close.

"I have no doubt Bobby Lowder loved, loves Auburn, and he and his family have given much in the way of financial support to the university. But he loved it in a way that was not good for Auburn, in a way that attempted to make the school something he could bend to his will, to his view of what the university should be."

Flynt called Lowder's vision for Auburn "singularly limited." He said Lowder used his influence primarily to restrict the focus of the school to standard training in professions such as agriculture, engineering, architecture, pharmacy, forestry and veterinary medicine.

"Those are wonderful and good professions and Auburn has had a rich history of training generations of good engineers, architects, vets and agriculture professionals," Flynt said. "But, a university can become more than just its professional schools. There is art, language, history, philosophy and so much more that adds to the life of a great university ... I deeply believe that Auburn University today would have been many, many miles further down the road to being a different university, a greater university, had Lowder not been on the board."

Another Auburn icon, former head football coach Pat Dye, sees a totally different legacy for Lowder.

"I came to Auburn in 1981, and I know what Auburn was then and what it is now, and what it is now is so much more, so much greater than 30 years ago, and the credit for that, at least a lot of that credit, goes to Bobby Lowder and his family," said Dye.

Saying he meant no disrespect, Dye said the university in 1981 was loved but struggling -- and not only in football.

"The university was a good university, don't get me wrong, and the football program, it was a good program, but it was struggling," said Dye. "I also think it seemed to me the school lacked direction, energy and a kind of commitment that said we want more, more not just from our sports programs but more for all the university, and when Bobby got on the board those things began to be realized. He wanted Auburn to be the best in every damn thing it did, and he was willing to invest the time, the sweat and millions and millions of his and his family's money to make that happen. Today Auburn does not have to take a back seat to nobody academically or in sports, especially in football, and a big part of the reason is Bobby Lowder."

Dye said Lowder played an important role in his decision to go to Auburn in 1981, even though Lowder was not yet on the board. Asked what role Lowder played, Dye chuckled.

"I wanted more money than the school could pay," Dye said. "And, I got it but only because Bobby Lowder came up with the difference. I like to think that decision worked out for Auburn. I know it did for me."

Lowder graduated from Auburn in 1964. Just 19 years later, after having carved out a regional banking empire, the 39-year-old Lowder was appointed to the board by then-Gov. George Wallace. By the start of his second decade on the board, Lowder had solidified his influence.

Andy Hornsby, a former president of the Auburn Alumni Association, has battled Lowder for years, including leading a group that last year filed suit to stop his name from moving to the Alabama Senate for reappointment. Hornsby acknowledged that Lowder and his family have donated millions of dollars to the school, and those dollars have done good. "But, for whatever good Mr. Lowder has done for Auburn, I think his time on the board too often became about what he wanted and only what he wanted," Hornsby said.

Hornsby said Lowder used his money and the influence it brought to make sure people who agreed with him were selected as trustees, and he used his position as CEO of a regional banking empire to help allies with loans and politicians with donations.

"If a president of the school crossed him, they were out. If a dean or professor was doing something he didn't like, they were out, or their lives made so hard they left," Hornsby said. "He approved who would coach, who would be AD, who would be president, that there would not be a journalism program after student journalists criticized him. It stifled creativity, and it divided the Auburn family. No university belongs to one man and his friends. But for too long that has unfortunately been the case at Auburn."

Eight years ago, Lowder's perceived grip on the university's life took a serious hit.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools placed Auburn on probation, an action that not only embarrassed the school, but also threatened to strip it of its accreditation. A SACS investigation found essentially that the board of trustees had overstepped its authority and interfered in functions at the school that were not its responsibility or prerogative. SACS acted after a committee of the AU faculty Senate filed with the organization a list of long-simmering complaints about the board.

SACS required trustees to take actions to correct the board's meddling, including requiring trustees individually to sign documents indicating their commitment to the accreditation process and to ensuring that the board was not controlled by a minority of its members -- an action that was seen as directly aimed at Lowder's influence, although Lowder was not singled out by SACS.

The SACS action resulted in the school's president resigning and then-Gov. Bob Riley appointing state school Superintendent Ed Richardson as president.

Richardson, now retired, thinks the SACS actions -- coupled with embarrassing disclosures just a month earlier that the school's president and athletic director at the time, along with some trustees, had used Lowder's private jet to fly to Louisville to try to recruit Bobby Petrino as head football coach -- broke Lowder's grip on power.

"Bobby never, never attempted to influence in an undue way any important decision I had to make, and I had to fire and hire a basketball coach and an AD and he never, never tried to influence those decisions," said Richardson. "I always found Bobby to be prepared for any issue we discussed. He did his homework."

Paul Finebaum, a popular radio talk show host and former newspaper sports reporter and columnist, has watched Lowder's career for years and has found much to admire and some to criticize.

"I think Bobby Lowder was not only the most important trustee and figure at Auburn, he was one of the most important trustees and important figures at any university anywhere," said Finebaum.

Finebaum said Lowder's greatest sin might also have been his greatest strength.

"Look, there developed a vacuum at Auburn that Bobby Lowder filled," said Finebaum. "The school had a string of bad presidents and poor ADs ... Somebody had to make decisions, and Bobby Lowder could and did make decisions.

"I think maybe Lowder cared too much," Finebaum said. "He's a smart and able guy. He wanted what was best for Auburn. I really believe he cared just as much about the business school or engineering school as he did about the football program."

Fellow AU trustee Jimmy Rane has known Lowder for years, and the two are friends.

"Bobby Lowder is a human being, and he has made mistakes, just like we all have," Rane said. "If he ever did overreach as a trustee, and I'm not saying he did, he did it because he wanted what was best for Auburn and not what was best for Bobby Lowder."